Out another hotel window

Out of town again.  This is the view from my hotel window.  Can you guess where I am?  I am in sunny Yuma Arizona.  I am spending a week here going to meetings on the Marine base.  It is in the 70s, but there is a cool wind, so it doesn't feel as warm as I expected.  Still a lot warmer than what I left.  My Aunt and Uncle (Sandra, Don) are here, so we are going to meet up for dinner later tonight.  I am looking forward to seeing them.  I talked to the boys yesterday and they were doing great.  Logan is staying with the Taggarts during the day and is always excited to go to "My Kate's house!"  Good news is that he knows that when it is time to go to the Taggarts, he has to wear pants.  Hopefully he remembers to keep his clothes on!  Sam and Jack are going to the GAP program at their schools.  Jack loved it and Sam said that no one was mean to him.  I am scheduled to get home on Friday, but I am going to try to get home Thursday night.  Somehow, this whole Christmas thing needs to happen.  I really need an assistant!

A week of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year.  First of all, I took a week of vacation time - and I actually didn't work during my vacation.  A new world record for me!  Tyler had the brilliant idea of taking me away for a few days, just the two of us.  Sadly we have never done this since Jack was born.  That is 9 1/2 years folks.  His parents were coming for Thanksgiving and were happy to watch the kids overnight so we could run away.  We stayed at the Northern Quest Casino in Spokane and enjoyed some great meals, fun shopping, a movie, and some much needed non-kid time.  It was all Tyler's idea and it was amazing!  I even got to play around on pinterest and find some ideas for my Thanksgiving table.  We also went grocery shopping (a luxury without kids) to get all of the Thanksgiving fixin's.

When we got back, it was time to start cooking.  Judy (Tyler's mom) and Jack were great helpers.  Jack wanted to do it all, so he made cranberry sauce, dips, helped with stuffing, sweet potatoes and rolls.  When we were done cooking, Jack also helped me with my centerpiece, boxes, and place cards.  Judy also helped with food prep and Steve (Tyler's dad) helped gather up chairs and get stuff ready for the big day.  While Tyler was not working, he was on Logan duty (full time job).

Thanksgiving morning was stress free as I finished up the prep until the sink clogged and overflowed.  Tyler and Steve fixed it up fast and it only put be behind a little bit.  Our friends the Rahlfs came for dinner.  They have three kids and another on the way.  Ashley brought the most beautiful rainbow jello that I have ever seen and it was so yummy.  Seriously people, I can't make regular jello, so I was VERY impressed.  The food turned out great, and it was just a wonderful meal with family and friends.  Everyone cleaned up dishes and let me take a rest - very nice.  I looked through some ads to see if there was any reason to get up early the next morning.  Answer - NO.

Later that evening we had the 9th annual Wirick pie night.  This Tyler's favorite tradition that we started while we were living in Nebraska (law school days).  He got so excited that he posted it on facebook.  I was a little worried that we would not have enough room for everyone, but it turned out great.  In attendance were the Rahlfs, Wiricks, Taggarts, Olsens, Nick (attorney from Tyler's office) and girlfriend, Zobels, Calkins.  That makes 16 adults and 21 kids.  I think there about 15 pies plus other goodies.  We sent the kids to play in the basement and had a great time visiting.  The pie was awesome, and I was exhausted!

On Friday, I spent the day putting up my Christmas decorations, we ran a few errands/shopped a little, and we got a babysitter so that the grown ups could go to dinner out at the Cedars.  The Wirick's left Saturday morning and Tyler and I spend Saturday cleaning up the pine needles in the yard left by the last storm and hanging Christmas lights.

Here are some pics of he Thanksgiving festivities (I forgot to take pictures of people, my focus was definitely getting it all ready to go.  The people were cute too :) )...

Too bad I had to go back to work on Monday.

A future in show business

I took Logan to Kiddie Kandids this weekend to get some pictures. I knew that this was not going to be fun, so Tyler kept Jack and Sam and Logan and I went alone. We went shopping first and picked out a cute new outfit. Then we went to get his pics.
This is when the miracle occurred. Instead of being his naughty little self, he turned on this whole other personality. The lady would ask him if he could put his foot up, and he would say "yes!" and then pose and smile. He did this for every pose she asked him to do. He put his hands in his pockets, folded his arms, crossed his feet, and even turned sideways and looked back at the camera. He was charming and darling. The pictures turned out amazing. I bought the CD, so I can post some of them here on my blog.

Here are a few things I want to remember about Logan at this age.

He calls school buses "school cars". He calls people he likes "my" Sammy or "my" Kate. When he runs, he makes fists and really runs with as much gusto as possible. When he wants to make me happy, he sings happy birthday to me. He loves cars, airplanes, and "cycles". He loves Lion King and Dumbo. He loves to dance. He can climb anything. He is really good with a cell phone and iPad. He randomly yells out "slug bug blue". He calls band aids "ouch stickers". When his nose runs, he freaks out and tells me, "I bleed, I bleed." We have friends with boys named Greyson, Easton, and Noah. He has a Noah's arc book, but he calls Noah, "Easton". When I am not watching he sings along with the television; he is awesome at Elmo's world.

Embarrassing

It is embarrassing each time your neighbor rings the doorbell and when you answer, she is standing there with your 2 year old, because he was playing in the front yard close to the street.

It is way more embarrassing when your neighbor brings home your two year old and he is naked!  At least, he had a cute little Pottery Barn elephant towel hanging on his head.  Even if it does say Sam across the back - he doesn't know.

I think I am going to run her over a Mother of the Year recommendation form to fill out and send in for me. 

THREE BOYS!!!!  REALLY!!!!

Jakes Baptism

Jack and I flew to Utah to attend Jake's baptism.  You can read about it here.  Jack and Jake are BEST friends, and I was so excited to find cheap flights and Angela planned this on a prefect weekend.  My sister Karen was there with her darling baby Lily, and my brother Dave just moved back to Utah with his family.  That meant that all 5 of us kids were there at the same time.  Jack loved the airplane ride and talked to me all about his theories of flight.  He was also thrilled to fly through storms and see lightening.  He even got to buy something at the gift shop in Phoenix (cheap flights = strange routes).

Jack spoke at the baptism and it was really cute.  He told me that he really felt the spirit and that he learned something new when he gave the talk.  I left on Sunday night, but Jack got to stay in Utah with Grandma and Grandpa until the following Thursday.  Then Jake, Jack and my parents drove up here to visit us for 5 days.  We had a great time, and that will be the next thing I blog about.

Here is Jack's talk:
Jack Wirick


Talk on Baptism for Jacob Ballard

8/27/2011
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are baptized when we reach the age of eight. Our prophets teach us that the age eight is important because this is when we become accountable and responsible for our actions.

Baptism is important because our Heavenly Father commanded us to do this. When we are baptized we receive many blessings from our Heavenly Father. Through repentance and baptism, our sins are washed away. The person being baptized must go all the way into the water. This is called being baptized by immersion. The person who baptizes must be someone who has the priesthood authority.

Being baptized is a special time of our lives. We covenant with the Lord to serve him and keep his commandments. We covenant to remember Jesus and to try to be like him. When we do that, he promises to send the Holy Ghost to help us.

A covenant is a promise we make with our Heavenly Father. When we make covenants, we show our love for God and promise to obey him.

Each time you take the sacrament, you will be reminded of the covenant or promise you made when you were baptized. As you follow Jesus’ teachings, you will be keeping your promise.

You will also be an example to those around you. When people know you are a member of the church, they expect you to behave well. When I was at scout camp, a leader there saw my CTR ring. She told me a story about when her son was a boy about 50 years ago. He collected toy cars. He went to a shop to buy parts for his cars and when he went to pay, he realized that he did not have enough money. The man at the counter told him that he could take the parts and come back later. He went home and told his mom, and then returned with the money. The man at the counter was not a member of the church, he told him that he saw his CTR ring and knew that he would make the right choice. Also at scout camp this year, someone from our council came up to our group of boys and asked if we were Mormons. When we said yes, he asked if someone would be able to say the prayer for the next opening ceremony. All of the boys in our group were willing and able to do this. Most of the boys at our scout camp would not have been comfortable praying in public. You never know when someone is watching you and when you can set an example or share your testimony.

Being baptized and having the Holy Ghost has helped me in my life and made me happy. I am proud of you for making the choice to be baptized.

Scout Camp

I love Camp Easton! I have been helping out there for the last 5 years when I can. Last year Tyler went with the kids, but this year I couldn't miss it. There was a jungle theme and our boys were cobras. We had a fun cheer and skit. The water front activities at Camp E are the greatest! The boys also love the BB guns and archery. I just love listening to their funny conversations and being outside with them where they can run and play and be stinky little boys.  I also enjoy bribing them with cookies and candy.

Other activities include: songs, skits, geo-caching, hikes, cooking, fire starting, stories, games, relay races, swimming, fishing, canoing, and much more!

Tyler, Isaac, Elijah, Jack, Zach, Gavin, and Jarett

Catching up - Sam's B-day

I have a lot of catching up to do with my blog.  August was a big month.  Starting with Sammy D's 5th birthday.  This was the first year that Sam got excited.  He asked me every day for a few months how many days there were until his b-day.  He would make sure I had things on his list.  It made me just as excited as he was and also it guaranteed that I would go a bit overboard with presents out of pure giddiness.  Here are some fun pics from his special day.

I let my kids have friend parties on the birthdays with multiples of 5, so this year I was in big trouble, because pulling off a b-day part was just not in the cards.  Luckily, Sam is the most laid back kid ever and was thrilled with my idea of inviting Rachel and Kate along with his brothers to the bounce house for a special party.  Here are some fun pictures from the bounce house.  I love their red faces, they all ran and bounced for a solid hour.  Kate was funny, she always wanted to hold Sam's hand or slide together.  Sam just happily did as he was told.  After the bounce house, we came home and ate Kung Fu Panda cupcakes and opened a preset.  Sam was very excited to get his own Lego set.

Bonus story about Sam and Kate.  A few days ago, Sam asked me if I had a crush on Daddy.  I told him that I had a huge crush on daddy which made him grin.  I asked him what a crush was and he said it means that you love someone and you want to marry them.  I asked him if he had a crush on anyone and he said that he had a crush on Kate.  I asked him when that happened, and he told me that Kate told him that he had a crush on her, so he did.  He said he has a crush on me too.  Then he walked away.

It was way too quiet!

Every mother knows that feeling of dread when you know that something must be wrong, because it is just way too quiet.  This is what I just found.  The bottle of hairspray is completely empty.  The mirror is also coated with hairspray.  His hair is not wet from water.  Isn't he pretty?  He is very proud of himself, and told me that he is ready to go to school.

My terrible awful flight to Denver

I am on my way home from DC; I am sitting at the Denver airport right now waiting to board my flight to Spokane. The flight to Denver was packed, and I was all the way in the back in a window seat. The guy next to me smelled BAD. He leaned into me the whole trip. His elbow was digging into me. I was trapped. To make matters worse, we were delayed and sat on the ground for almost an hour.  I did my best to ignore the smells, the space violation, and enjoy my book and then... He pulled out a giant sausage and a plastic knife and started slicing off pieces of disgusting meat product and chomped away. I nearly lost my mind and my lunch!

For those of you who know me, you can understand that being that close to a log of meat would be enough to send me into hysterics.  I can't stand the smell of it, and the sound of him chewing.  Oh my!  I thought I would die. (At least he left his shoes on.  What if I had to see his feet too?  I seriously might have been on the news.  Lady goes phyco on airplane...)

I was in DC to meet with the US Marine Corps who are implenting our software.  I flew in Wednesday night, had meetings on Thursday, and returned Thursday night.  Every single one of my flights were delayed.  It was a long 48 hours and it took me a few days to recover.  I didn't get a chance to see anything but the inside of a hotel and an office.

While visiting with my clients, most of whom work at the Pentagon, we all were drawn back to our memories of 9/11.  When I got home, I had an email from my nephew interviewing me about 9/11.  I thought I would share for those of you that did not know my experience on that day.
1.Where were you on September 11, 2001? Boston Massachusetts and Washington DC
2.What were you doing on that day? I was leaving Boston to go to Washington DC to meet with the Air Force and SAP (business trip). I was on an American Airlines flight that was only one gate away from the flight that was the first to hit the twin towers. I left within 20 minutes of the flight and we were in the air when it happened. When we landed in DC, we still did not know what had happened. We were lucky to get our luggage and get out of the airport. The airports were later evacuated and people had to leave their luggage. We (a collegue and I) found out while we were listening to the radio in a cab on our way to the hotel. We drove past the pentagon and only 10 minutes or so later, it was hit. We were stuck in DC for the rest of the week. We had meetings in the Reagan building the next day, but we had to evacuate after a bomb threat. When planes finally started to fly again, I was only able to get to Phoenix, AZ and Tyler drove from Utah to pick me up. I could not wait several more days to get to SLC. I wanted to get home.
3.What is your most vivid memory of that day or the days that followed? I never felt like I was in danger, because I would find out what happened after I was safe, but I couldn't get my cell phone to work, and it was scary not to be able to get a hold of my family to tell them I was OK. It was 4 hours until I was able to call my husband. I had to stop watching the news. It was too upsetting to watch what had happened over and over again.
4.Did you visit any of the above sites prior to September 11? Yes, I had been to the pentagon several times, visited the twin towers once earlier that year, and had been to Pennsylvania several times.
5.Describe what it was like. Have you visited any of the memorials that have been erected since that day? I love being in the pentagon. It is very formal compared to other military bases. Almost everyone who works there is in uniform. Even the guys who get coffee for the generals are officers. It is really easy to get lost in the pentagon. I only spent a few minutes at the twin towers, but it was amazing. I have never been back to NYC, but I have been to the Pentagon several times since. It is the same. I just left Washington this week. We met off-site, but the people I met with were all working at the Pentagon when 9/11 occurred. We talked about the experience and the people they knew that were killed that day.
6.What feelings did you feel when you visited them? Being at the pentagon 10 years after 9/11 was actually kind of scary for me. I was glad that my flight home was on 9/8 this time. I would not feel comfortable flying on 9/11/11.
7.What feelings did you experience on that day and over the days that followed? I felt very alone stuck in DC without my family, but when I would go to the lobby of the hotel, we were all there watching the news together and it felt like we all knew each other. The people that worked at the hotel were amazing and tried to help us with anything we needed. I wanted to go home so badly, and I got really sick. There was only one restaurant in walking distance of my hotel, and I didn't have a rental car. It was a little Chinese restaurant, but the owner made me chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. A few weeks later, I found out that I was pregnant which was why I was so sick. The other people I had travelled with were in another hotel across town. I was also frustrated, because I had only planned to be away from home for two days, so I ran out of clothes and underwear. I had to wash in the sink and I wore my PJs a lot that week.
8.What feelings do you experience when you think about the attacks today? It makes me angry to think that a lot of people like me went to work that day and while I was lucky to be safe, they were not and they had to leave their families. The only difference between us was that my plane had less fuel.
9.Did you personally know anyone who was affected by the attacks? Yes, several of my clients work at the Pentagon and were in the office during the attack. They were injured, but not killed. One of my clients lost his friend who he drove to work with every day.
10.Do you do anything to commemorate this day (hang a flag, say a prayer, volunteer, etc.)? Nothing formal, but I always think about what happened on the anniversary.
11.How did you feel when the American government found Osama bin Ladin? I don’t like war or violence, so I don't believe in celebrating the death of any human being. I don't agree with what Osama bin Ladin stood for or did, but I worry about what it means for humanity to celebrate the death of a person, and I worry about the effects this has had on the Muslim people who live in America. I hate racism in all forms. I don’t like it when people justify hate and racism with the events of 9/11.
12.In the ten years since September 11, how has your life changed? Professionally, I was traveling several weeks a month back in 2001. It was hard for me to travel after the attacks; I would get really anxious. I slowed down a lot. It caused a logistics problem for me and my company because, as contractors, it became very difficult to get onto a military site. For the rest of 2001, we were very limited in our visits. To this day, we do not have the same clearance that we had. It also became so much more difficult to travel with the added security, even though I understand the need. Personally, I have had 3 children, lived in 3 different states, and put my husband through law school. I don’t know how to explain 9/11 to my kids. I worry about the world that they are growing up in.

A visit to Shriners, and finally a diagnosis

Our long awaited Shriner's appointment was yesterday.  Sam, Tyler, and I went to Spokane and left the other boys with a babysitter.  We can not remember when  or if ever we have both spent that much time alone with Sam.  He is a lot of fun to have on his own.  He was pretty nervous about going to the doctor, so he was a bit silly.

When we pulled into the parking garage, he asked if this is the place where they are going to shine his feet.  It took a minute to figure out that he thought we were going to "Shiners" hospital.  We all laughed and laughed about that.

Sam has had issues with his ankles, feet, and legs since birth.  When he still wasn't walking at 18 months, he ended up going to physical therapy and wearing orthotics until he was 2.  They worked wonders.  Since then, we have noticed that his feet are turning in more and more when he runs, he still sits in a W, and he is not keeping up with other kids his age.  We have been to physical therapists, doctors, surgeons, etc with differing opinions as to what should be done.  They ranged from nothing, orthotics, physical therapy to surgery.  Our pediatrician finally recommended that we go to Shriner's to get the answers once and for all.  I was very nervous, but it is hard watching him struggle to keep up with kids his age, and he is turning in his feet and knees more and more which is bringing comments from outsiders - lovely.

The official diagnosis is femoral antiversion.  The best explanation I found is on the Johns Hopkins website.  Basically, his thighbones are rotated inward which makes his knees knock and toes point in when he walks and runs.  It also explains why he sits in a "W" rather than criss-cross.  The doctor said that it might correct itself, but that in some patients it does not.  They will evaluate him when he is 8 or 9 if it is causing an interruption in his life.  At that point, they can do surgery where the bone is cut, rotated, and set.  We are praying for the auto correction option.  We have to go back in 6 months for a repeat xray of his right foot, because his arch is higher than his left, and they want to make sure that does not change.  He was also diagnosed with loose ligaments which makes his ankles bend all over the place.  He will probably be a clumsy little boy all growing up. 

This does not answer any questions as to why he was delayed in walking as an infant, as it was primarily caused by low core muscle strength which is typically neurological.  She said we could see a neurologist and a geneticist to test for syndromes and such, but that the outcome would not affect the way we treat him moving forward.  Since he is maintaining a normal life, there seems to be no reason to go through extra tests that may never show anything.

For now, the doctor said that the best treatment is to let him be a normal 5 year old.

We are grateful to have some answers, and I feel very blessed that this is not something serious.  Being at Shriner's is a humbling experience.  It makes me re-evaluate challenges in my life and just to be thankful for what I have.

Jack's coolest day of his life

Jack just completed a two and half week science camp.  It was something he looked forward to all summer long, and it did not disappoint.  When I picked him up on Monday, he was outside experimenting with all of the gadgets that the Science Bus had to offer.  One of them was a robot named Disco.  He was amazed that Disco knew his name, and commented on his Austin shirt.  He asked Disco if he had ever met R2D2 and said if he ever does to tell him hello.  I only had my phone, so the picture is not that great.

During his time in camp, he made gak, a compass, a weather vain, anemometer, two boats that they raced,  miniature rocket, and regular sized rocket which they launched on the final day.  They also learned about magnets and polarity, and all sorts of chemical reactions.  On the last few days, the Science Bus came with all sorts of cool things to play with, and the robot.  When I picked him up, he said it was probably the coolest day of his whole life.  He wasn't sure which was his favorite, the robot or watching them dip things like hot dogs into liquid nitrogen and throwing them on the ground to watch them shatter.  He was also very excited that his regular size rocket had several successful launches.  He worked very hard on it.  Here are some great quotes from the last few weeks:

(acting like I must be a complete idiot)  It's an anemometer, it measures wind speed. (eyes roll)
According to my calculations...
I am pretty sure I figured out how to change the polarity of a magnet (insert long theory)
I am not a farmer, but I know a thing or two about crops.
It seems like the smartest kids I know are all going to science camp.  (I told him that some of the other kids might not think it would be very fun)  His response:  They are soooo wrong.
His nightly prayers:  Please bless that my rocket will have a successful launch.  Please bless that my rocket cone will not get damaged today.
Mom, I didn't want to give Disco a high-five, because he is made of metal, but I realized that he was just holding his hand up; not hurting people.
Mom, I really want a robot, can we go to Walmart.
Do you think some day, people will have robots in their houses?
I don't think you should stop at Sonic on the way home again today, you stopped drinking coke, but you are still too addicted to sugar.

Amazingly, this was offered by the school district and totally free.  I had to send him with a notebook, an empty two liter bottle, duct tape, cereal box, and some stickers.

A Wirick Weekend

Last week for family night, we came up with a plan for our summer including fun activities we could do together on the weekends.  Tyler had to file a case by Midnight on Saturday, so we had to work around his schedule, but we were able to fit in a movie night (Cars 2 with Jack, Sam, and Mom).  It was 3d and we were the only ones in the theater; probably because the movie started at 9:30 at night.  The kids stayed up until midnight.  Tyler and Logan hung out at home and went to bed on time.  After Tyler had finished his work Saturday, we went to Green Bluff Washington to pick strawberries.  Green bluff is a cool area with a coop of farms.  We go there to pick pumpkins, peaches, and now strawberries.  We will keep our ears open for other fun foods that we can get fresh from the farms.  The farm we ended up at this time was Knapp's.

The drive to the farms is beautiful.  There are rolling hills planted with all sorts of great things.  The farms are off-set with the beautiful Ponderosa pines found in this area.  It smells wonderful.  The actual picking went fast, because I had to remind the boys that we could only eat so many strawberries.  Tyler was the funniest; he could hardly stand to leave any behind.  Each boy had a different personality for picking.  Tyler = pick one, eat one, grin, keep head down and keep picking.  Jack = pick one strawberry from each bush, bounce through the field, declare over and over that he had the most strawberries.  Sam =  look in other peoples buckets to find the best strawberries, and steal them for your own.  Logan = pick and taste, as soon as mom isn't holding on, take off running through the fields as fast as possible.  None of them would stop and let me take a cute picture.  They also LOVED riding the golf carts back to the barn.

Once we were done picking, we stopped to get the big boy's a haircut.  Jack's was growing out, and Sam decided he wanted to get a haircut like Jack's.  He looks so much different to me. 

A day in the office

I love working from home! I went to the backyard to take a call without interruptions, and it was too nice to leave. I am in my pjs at 2:15 working from my back deck. I can hear birds, squirrels, and the boats down on the river. Blessings to the creators of the wireless network!

How many more days until we aren't in Utah?

We have been in Utah since last Friday.  Sam has asked me several times each day, "How many more days until we aren't in Utah?"  He really doesn't want to go back.  Good news for Sam, we got to stay four extra days.  When we come to Utah, I always schedule a day in the office in SLC.  It is good to see people face to face.  While I was there, I found out that I needed to make a quick trip to DC the following Tuesday.  We had planned on going home on Saturday. 

I will back up a little bit, as soon as we got here, Tyler received an email from the court saying that he needed to appear on Monday, so we spent the first day of the trip scrambling to change flights home, so he could be in court.  He went to his 20 year high school reunion Friday and Saturday, and then flew home on Sunday.  He had court Monday (surprise) and Tuesday (planned).  Then he missed his flight Tuesday night and ended up coming back here Wednesday just in time to take me out for my B-day.  Hooray!

OK, back to the DC plans.  We were trying to get things worked out, and it seemed crazy to drive home Saturday just to unpack and fly out Monday morning, so we figured out a way to stay in Utah.  Tyler is going to work, and my mom will help him with the kids.  I will fly out tomorrow (Monday), give my presentation Tuesday morning, and fly back home Tuesday afternoon.  We will wake up Wednesday and make the long drive back to Post Falls.  Sound fun?

It has been a lot of fun being here with my family.  Here are some highlights.  Cousin sleep overs! Bike rides, crafts with Lucy (b-day), B-day lunch at Sonora, B-day dinner at Taste of India, toe nails painted with glitter by Angela, white trash BBQ at Steve's :), more Sonora, X-men, movie with the cousins, playing with cousins a lot, aquarium in SLC, planetarium, boyscout office visit with Grandpa, new iPad, shopping, hanging out with grown-ups, meeting people from Tyler's mission, playing pig with Gracie, Rachel, and Lucy, winning every game of pig by shooting from the foul line, waterfall spotting, sunshine!, team Ballard shirts, Father's day dinner with the whole Ballard clan, and more...

I better get to sleep.  Early morning, early flight.

A road trip with Jack

I had the opportunity to take Jack on a quick road trip to Utah.  It was a sad occasion, my Uncle Clark passed away and I wanted to be with my family for the funeral.  When I looked at my options for getting to Utah, I decided that I wanted to rent a car and take Jack with me.  It has been a long time since I have had time to spend a block of alone time with him.

For 4 years, Jack and I spent every waking hour together, mostly just the two of us while Tyler was in law school and then his first year of working at a law firm.  I miss that time.   He is so much fun.  He loves to talk and sing and play.  He has great ideas and loves to hypothesize.  When I asked him if he was interested, he was all in and very excited.

We planned it all out.  Jack packed all by himself.  He used b-day money to buy a new Lego set to put together while on the road, and we stocked up on snacks and treats.  He picked out some movies.  Tyler even loaded up his i-touch with music and games.  Jack was thrilled about that.

 

In the car, he immediately started chatting.  He wanted to know how close we were to Montana...Idaho....Utah.  He loved talking about the scenery and trees.  He kept a look out for lightening and storms to drive through.  We had some very sweet talks about death and funerals.  He told me he loved me about a million times.  He did get bored with me a few times and asked if he could get in the other car with Grandma and Grandpa.  I told him that it would be even more fun when he is big enough to sit up front rather than hollering from front to back.

We made it to Utah in time to go to the viewing.  It was so nice to see my family.  We went to my parents after the viewing.  We found out the Jake got hit by a car.  This became the focus of Jack's universe.  I had to tell him over and over again that Jake was OK.  He told me it was the worst news he had ever heard in his whole life.  We were dead tired!  We went back to the Wiricks and slept.  In the morning we got ready for the funeral.  Jack told me that I did not have to have a talk with him about how to behave, because he already knew that and he would never be bad at a funeral.  He was great, and tried to be a good example to all of the cousins.  It was a beautiful service.  Jack was so cute with Aunt Kay.  He told her that she could come live with us if she needed to.  He was very concerned to see her cry.  We had a side trip to the scout shop to get him his bear gear.  He told the guy at the counter that, "My Grandpa loves scouts even more and he collects scout patches.  He is in this store ALL of the time." 

After the funeral and luncheon, we stopped at Walmart to get some gifts for Jake.  Jack wanted to get him a new bike.  We settled on a star wars guy.  I bought Angela (Jake's mom) a Pepsi and some chocolate.  Then we went to visit him.  Jake told Jack that he insisted on him sleeping over.  Jack told him that he couldn't sleep over, but he would stay as long as he needed him to.  I told Jack he could sleep over after Angela said it was OK.  He was thrilled.  Jack and Jake hung out, played, and watched movies.  I asked Jack what he did, and he said that they mostly just talked.  He couldn't tell me about what - I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.  Jake and Jack have great conversations!

I have to add that I did eat at Sonora Grill.  Only once, but I couldn't let the trip go by without a stop.  I am never disappointed!  I am looking forward to a longer trip to Utah in June.  We will be there from 6/10 - 6/17 to attend Tyler's 20 year reunion.  Then staying later for some fun time.  If anyone out there wants to meet up in Utah, let me know!

p.s. If you are confused. My brother married an awesome lady named Angela, and they have an awesome boy named Jake.  I am also named Angela and I have an awesome boy named Jack.  You can imagine how much fun this is when we are all together.  To make it more confusing, most of our family calls us both Angie, but in our other lives we go by Angela.  Even better, she is now Angela Ballard, and all growing up I was Angela Ballard, so I still answer to this even though I shouldn't.

Another hotel room...

I find myself sitting in another hotel room with a few hours to spare, so I figured I would update my blog.  Here is a view of downtown Austin from my room

So much has happened this spring that I have not written about.  Logan turned 2 in March.  My baby is officially not a baby.  He loved having us sing happy birthday to him, and enjoyed his cake very much.  We had a low key party at home. 

Jack had his first pinewood derby!  He took 3rd place in the ward and got to go to the district race.  He ended up taking 8th overall, and he and Tyler had a blast!  Jack named his car blue lightening.  It sits on a trophy stand in his bedroom where he admires it regularly. 

Jack and Sam are both playing soccer.  I have some pictures on my other camera.  The weather has been miserable.  Sam has struggled with the cold.  The 4 year olds do not practice.  They show up every Saturday.  They spend the first 20 minutes practicing with their coach.  They run a lap and do jumping jacks.  Then they practice dribbling the ball and kicking it into the goal.  Then the two teams play a game.  Sam likes to run the opposite way of the ball.  When people laugh, he keeps on running and showing off.  He will not get in and kick the ball.  He eventually gives up and comes to sit on my lap.  Sometimes he cries.  Last week was his final game (halleluja!).  It was a beautiful warm day.  He played the whole game without any tears.  His team did really well, and he even kicked the ball once or twice.  He still mainly stayed out of the way of everyone else.  He just ran behind everyone and grinned the whole time.  After the game was over he told me how much he loved soccer and asked if he could play it at home.  We also just registered Sam for kindergarten.  When we arrived, they took him away for screening.  He was not having that, but luckily I knew the screener from church and told him it was ok to go talk to my friend.  He was able to answer all of the questions and write his name, so they said he was good to go.  He barely makes the cut off date.  We went through all of the steps to get him registered.  His favorite part was buying a school shirt.  He put it right on.  Then on the way out he told me, "I do not want to go to that school.  And if you don't come with me, I am never going."  GREAT.  He hasn't really talked about it since and I am not going to bring it up for a while.

Jack turned 9 on mother's day.  We had a fun day.  We went to Red Lobster on Saturday for a combined celebration.  We taught Logan how to say, "Happy Birthday". He was really cute saying, Happy Birthday Gack.  He also would say Happy Mother's Day.  He often calls me Daddy-Mommy.  It was pretty funny when he would say, "Happy Mother's Day Daddy Mommy."  He is also really really good at saying, Stop it Sammy!  Or Sammy, no hit!  Or Sammy Mean!  He loves to be outside and running around.  It is a good thing the weather is finally warming up, because all three of my boys have cabin fever!  Jack was also the mayor in a cute school play (Suessical the Musical - Horton Hears a Who scene).  He has his first piano recital this weekend.  We are very excited for that too.

Tyler is all moved into his new office.  It is really nice, and he is really happy with the way it turned out.  We are both staying busy with work, church, and chasing after the kids.  That was a great distraction, now I must get dressed up and ready to go to a banquet and award ceremony.  I would much rather crawl into bed and watch a good movie on Netflix!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I don't think that there is a particularly busy season in the world of software development,  but it feels like I am in one now.  The main product that I am responsible has a 6 month release cycle, and we are completing a major release right now.  It will be out for beta testing within the next few weeks.  This means that I am daily reviewing bugs found by our QA team and determining if they must be fixed prior to the release, or if they can wait for future releases. It takes a mixture of experience, judgement, and luck.  It also means that I have a whole team in SLC waiting for me to answer my emails.  I am making a lot of friends this week (sarcasm!)

On top of the new release we also just completed our User's Conference.  It was in Tuscon AZ this year.  I was responsible for 6 or 7 breakout sessions and I also got to give the main presentation at one of the general sessions.  It was a live demo of our new release.  This is always a bit scary since everything could go wrong quickly.  Nothing did and it was an amazing conference.  I enjoyed the warm weather and the sun.  Oh the blessed sun!!!!

This week I am in Denver participating in Leadership Transformation training.  It is nice to be the one listening rather than teaching this, but also challenging keeping up with everything going on back in the office.  I really do love my job.  I work with amazing people and get to do some pretty cool things.  The hardest part is being away from my family.  I am preparing for another conference in Austin in a few weeks, and then I hope to hold of on travel for a bit.  There is another trip to Europe coming up in September which might be too hard to pass up if the opportunity arises...

Tyler did awesome with the kids last week.  Our friend Donna was amazing and watched the two little boys for us.  This week, they are starting a new daycare.  Sam had a bad first day and poor Tyler had to drop him off today anyway.  He was sad, but they worked things out.  I am also missing Jack's first pinewood derby.  Tyler is going to take pictures and I am sure that Jack will call with a play by play description of his night. 

Some of the other things going on...Tyler is moving to a different (SOOO nice) office space, phone will be installed Thursday and he has to be out of his old office by the end of the month.  Jack and Sam are playing soccer.  I will have to take some pictures and post about it - not to give it all away, but Sam is just as funny as I expected.  Jack is getting ready for his first piano recital, and he is taking an after school drama class.  He got picked for a pretty big part and we are excited to see how it turns out.  Our pediatrician is referring Sam to Shriner's to get his legs checked out, but I have no idea when that will be.  Logan continues to wreak havoc with toothpaste, diaper cream, markers, food, and anything else that he can get into.  He also started climbing out of his crib which is really messing with our schedule and my sanity.

As busy as we are, I am sure grateful for my life.  I am a lucky lady!

He makes me laugh!

Sam:  Mom, can I have my lunch now, I am starving!
Me:  Sure, what do you want.
Sam:  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Me:  That will be 4 kisses.  One for the bread, one for the peanut butter, one for the jelly, and one for the other bread.
Sam:  (wrinkles his nose) I'll just have a jelly sandwich.
Me:  That will be 3 kisses.
Sam:  Do I have to do it now, sigh?
Me:  Yep!
Sam:  OK.

Then he gets his famous little eye twinkle, puckers up and gives me three big ones!

And the Oscar goes to...

Samuel David Wirick, for his convincing performance of, "I think my foot got broken."  Last night, right before we were supposed to go to a friend's house to celebrate a cute boy's 2 year old birthday, Sam running at full speed, tripped on a rug and crashed to the floor.  He screamed and cried and told me he hurt his foot.  It was a pretty loud bang when he fell, so I loved him and babied him for a bit.  I let him leave without putting shoes on and carried him around that night.  There is not mark, it is not swollen (a tiny bit, but seriously?!?).  He can bend it, wiggle his toes, and it seems tender only when I press on the top of his foot.  I knew with every ounce of my being that this was a huge overreaction on his part.

Fast forward to 12 am.  Sam is screaming in the hallway.  His foot hurts.  I got him calmed down, and back to bed.  This happened every two hours for the rest of the night.  This added some doubt to my conviction of his total wellness.  Sam refused to walk all day long, and would not bear weight on his foot.  I finally decided to call the doctor.  They set us an appointment for tomorrow.  They said that with foot injuries, you can never be sure.  I told Tyler and we tried to work out an arrangement for the car. (By the way, the prism has died and cannot be brought to life without an engine replacement.  -So not what we need right now!)  Looking at my schedule, I could rearrange 3 meetings to open up an hour to take him in, but Tyler has to be in court and will need to have a vehicle to drive him there.  There is no way we can make it work, so I just decided to take him to the instant care tonight.

If your kid will not bear weight on their foot, your kid will receive x-rays; even in the doctor cannot find anything wrong with the foot.  If he is charming and flirts with the technician, he will get extra stickers a sucker and be allowed back to the computer to view his x-rays.  I wanted to point out that this was not doing me any favors for future fake injuries, but he was REALLY charming!

The official diagnosis:  Sam has a sore foot.  He needs Tylenol for the pain, and that will be $300 please!  I knew it, but I really didn't want to be the mom who ignored a broken foot and caused her child unneeded pain and suffering.  He still wont walk.  The kid knows how to stay in character.  I might call Disney to see if they need a new star!

What's up at the Wiricks?

This blog thing can get frustrating.  When something happens, I swear to myself I will blog about it.  Then I think that I will wait until I get pictures, and then I realize I haven't blogged about anything that I wanted to blog about.  Working full time plus busy callings, Tyler's business, and 3 naughty boys doesn't help.  Here's what's been going on at the Wiricks!

Tyler is really busy!  He goes to work every day and never ever sluffs his High Council responsibilities. :)

Jack has been taking skiing lessons on Saturdays.  Two weeks ago, he had a good fall that landed him in the ER.  The ski patrol gave him a cardboard box splint which he called the "box of shame".  The doctors in the ER thought that it was great and wrote Box of Shame on his box with marker.  Nothing was broken, but he was pretty bruised.  He got all bandaged up and given a set of crutches to walk on for a week.  I have never seen a more delighted boy.  He loved the attention.  It was scary to watch him as he cannot walk in a straight line minus crutches.  I also notices that he used them to point more than walk, so I told him it was time to give them up.  He was sad, but agreed.  My real reason for retiring the crutches was to save my walls.  Sam and Logan could not go a minute without using them as guns or banging them on the walls.  Good news, Jack is fully recovered.  We spent the weekend making the coolest valentines box ever.  It was a robot - the kids in class told him that if there was a contest, he would win.  He enjoyed valentines day and wrote me this cute poem:

Mom

Smart, honest

caring, amusing, loving

Most hard working

Parent

He also came into my room laughing hysterically as he tried to shove a conversation heart in my mouth.  I made him show me first.  It said, Team Jacob.  He thought it was hysterical.  He also wants to know what the deal is with Justin "Beaver", cuz the girls at school keep talking about him.  Jack is too funny!

Sam is my buddy.  Every day at lunch I look forward to asking him what he wants to eat.  Here are some of his answers: a turkey and cheese sandwich with peanut butter and jelly, a turkey and cheese sandwich with no cheese, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with just peanut butter.  Sam is going to the orthopedic specialist next week to have some tests done.  (Tyler will be taking him by himself!) He will probably be scheduled for an MRI to look at the anatomy of his hips and pelvis.  Results will determine if he needs surgery, physical therapy, orthotics, or all three.  Keep him in your prayers.  I am signing him up for soccer this spring too, and I am hoping he can keep up with the other kids.  Time will tell, I guess.

Logan - does anyone need a 2 year old, because I am exhausted?  He requires constant supervision.  Here is a demonstration of what happens when Tyler and I tried to have a 5 minute talk without keeping our eyes on him.

Isn't he darling!  He also screams MINE at the top of his lungs and dumps his bowl of milk out after breakfast every morning.  He is sweet too.  He stood at the window waving at Jack this morning saying, "bye buddy!"  He has also fallen in love with Woody from Toy Story.  He begs for Woody fruit snacks and carries around a Woody doll.  It is all pretty cute when you can get through the naughty.

I am just trying to keep my head above water.  I had a trip to Utah in January.  I just flew in for the day to attend meetings in SLC.  I have more meetings next week, so Logan and I are flying to Utah on Saturday and spending some extra time with family.  I have more trips coming up:  March/Seattle, April/Tucson, and May/Austin.